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도시는 화려한 무대이다. 나는 많은 사람처럼 그 모습에 현혹되었다. 그러다 보니 그 표면을 구축하는 이면에 관심이 생겼다.

무대의 이면에는 또 하나의 무대가 있다.
도시의 뒤에는 또 하나의 도시가 있다.
나는 무대 밖에서 무대 안을 들여다보았다.
나는 무대 뒤에서 무대 앞을 보기도 했다.
그리고 무대 안에서 그 안을 유심히 보았다.

그 결과 나는 도시의 무대를 넓혀가는 것이 아니라, 그 무대란 워낙에 유동적임을 알게 되었다.

Phantom of a dichotomy
People like to think of a matter in dichotomy; in black and white, red and blue, right and wrong, existence and non existence, and so on. That matter is an idea, opinion, aesthetics, society, and anything. The division transforms a complicated matter into a simple equation of true and false. And they are always on the truth side, and the enemy is false. This way of thinking is embedded in our brain. Decisions we make are influenced by it. We live our life with others, make decisions, and understand the world in this simple division.

The oppressed know too well, that the oppressor can not exist without the oppressed. Minorities know too well, that the majority can not maintain their status without excluding the minorities. The powerless know too well, that the powerful can not exist without exploiting the powerless. Both parties understand each other’s boundaries and limitations. Both parties are interested in negotiating the boundaries. Without the boundary, both parties can not sustain their status and reason of being.

Aesthetics of negotiation.
Under the conditions of dichotomy, only the aesthetics of negotiation remains important. People in conflict are not interested in over throwing the boundary or creating a new one. Everyone is interested in the benefits of challenging the boundary. Therefore, only the boundary remains as the important factor.

There is a large stage, many things are happening on the stage. I became curious about what is behind the stage. I must have believed that there is something hidden, something that is closer to the truth. I climbed up to the stage, sneaked behind the façade, and looked at it from different directions. There was another stage of a same kind, in reverse direction.

I attempted to unveil the skin, hoping to find whatever that is under the skin. But there were only more skins. I remain interested in the skin for that matter. The surface reveals the truth about what it hides.

Fantasy of a collective will.

My fascination about the grassroots political resistance has made a full circle to the point of departure. That is, the state of confusion and mistrust. I’ve learned that how some people appear is not the same as their true self. What they say is not always what they act. What they think they believe is not even what they believe in reality.

When people gather into a group, they form a community. The collective holds a potential to a substantial power that can make changes in the world. However, the collective is a collection of an individual after all. I begin to grow doubts in the collective will. It is an assemblage of each individual’s own will. It is a dissipation of selfish desires.

Sometimes, I feel that resistance is futile. It is a social masturbation. Guide book for political activist is much similar to a book on self-help after a breaking up in a relationship. Of course, the chapters sound radically different, but the contents are rather indifferent. Being political is much like being religious. One’s faith is the driving force of the belief, and yet it is the only substantial return in the end. Resistance is futile, in a sense it does not resist the core of the problem. Resistance is valuable, in a sense that it contributes to sustaining the phantom of a dichotomy.

Theatrics is the key to the aesthetics of negotiation. Staged situations, scripted languages, and learned body languages. These are the rules of a negotiation. It is a theatre, because it’s based on lies. It is also the closest thing to the truth, because the truth can be simulated and experimented in the theater.

도시는 화려한 무대이다. 나는 많은 사람처럼 그 모습에 현혹되었다. 그러다 보니 그 표면을 구축하는 이면에 관심이 생겼다.

무대의 이면에는 또 하나의 무대가 있다.
도시의 뒤에는 또 하나의 도시가 있다.
나는 무대 밖에서 무대 안을 들여다보았다.
나는 무대 뒤에서 무대 앞을 보기도 했다.
그리고 무대 안에서 그 안을 유심히 보았다.

그 결과 나는 도시의 무대를 넓혀가는 것이 아니라, 그 무대란 워낙에 유동적임을 알게 되었다.

Phantom of a dichotomy
People like to think of a matter in dichotomy; in black and white, red and blue, right and wrong, existence and non existence, and so on. That matter is an idea, opinion, aesthetics, society, and anything. The division transforms a complicated matter into a simple equation of true and false. And they are always on the truth side, and the enemy is false. This way of thinking is embedded in our brain. Decisions we make are influenced by it. We live our life with others, make decisions, and understand the world in this simple division.

The oppressed know too well, that the oppressor can not exist without the oppressed. Minorities know too well, that the majority can not maintain their status without excluding the minorities. The powerless know too well, that the powerful can not exist without exploiting the powerless. Both parties understand each other’s boundaries and limitations. Both parties are interested in negotiating the boundaries. Without the boundary, both parties can not sustain their status and reason of being.

Aesthetics of negotiation.
Under the conditions of dichotomy, only the aesthetics of negotiation remains important. People in conflict are not interested in over throwing the boundary or creating a new one. Everyone is interested in the benefits of challenging the boundary. Therefore, only the boundary remains as the important factor.

There is a large stage, many things are happening on the stage. I became curious about what is behind the stage. I must have believed that there is something hidden, something that is closer to the truth. I climbed up to the stage, sneaked behind the façade, and looked at it from different directions. There was another stage of a same kind, in reverse direction.

I attempted to unveil the skin, hoping to find whatever that is under the skin. But there were only more skins. I remain interested in the skin for that matter. The surface reveals the truth about what it hides.

Fantasy of a collective will.

My fascination about the grassroots political resistance has made a full circle to the point of departure. That is, the state of confusion and mistrust. I’ve learned that how some people appear is not the same as their true self. What they say is not always what they act. What they think they believe is not even what they believe in reality.

When people gather into a group, they form a community. The collective holds a potential to a substantial power that can make changes in the world. However, the collective is a collection of an individual after all. I begin to grow doubts in the collective will. It is an assemblage of each individual’s own will. It is a dissipation of selfish desires.

Sometimes, I feel that resistance is futile. It is a social masturbation. Guide book for political activist is much similar to a book on self-help after a breaking up in a relationship. Of course, the chapters sound radically different, but the contents are rather indifferent. Being political is much like being religious. One’s faith is the driving force of the belief, and yet it is the only substantial return in the end. Resistance is futile, in a sense it does not resist the core of the problem. Resistance is valuable, in a sense that it contributes to sustaining the phantom of a dichotomy.

Theatrics is the key to the aesthetics of negotiation. Staged situations, scripted languages, and learned body languages. These are the rules of a negotiation. It is a theatre, because it’s based on lies. It is also the closest thing to the truth, because the truth can be simulated and experimented in the theater.